Fostering faculty driven change through scaffolding a community of practice into a local community of transformation at University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Dismantling structural inequities in higher education is an essential step to improving how we assess ability and outcomes for historically underserved groups in the United States. In an effort to address these structural inequities in STEM fields, institutional change initiatives work to influence teaching practices and educational accessibility at their institutions. One strategy commonly utilized is the development of Communities of Practice to support faculty using evidence-based teaching practices. At the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, our group seeks to discuss the early stages of work in developing a local Community of Practice that will feed into a Community of Transformation with the intention of making lasting systemic change for our students in STEM fields. Our theory of change is informed by the 4I Framework, integrating Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Pedagogies into the scaffolding of the developing community.